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Top Animation News: Simpsons and Family Guy films, SIGGRAPH and more!

Top Animation News is a weekly column that rounds up the biggest, best and breaking stories from the world of animation. This edition covers August 10 to 17, 2018.

The Simpsons Movie sequel and Family Guy film in the works.

It’s been reported that Fox is developing a sequel for The Simpsons Movie and a feature film adaptation of Family Guy, which will be a hybrid of animation and live-action. The studio is already working on aBob’s Burgersmovie, set for release on July 17, 2020. The original The Simpsons Movie came out in 2007, with the television series celebrating its 30th season this autumn. (Editor’s note: Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons and Family Guy are all produced in Toon Boom animation software.)

‘Toon’ into The Simpsons Movie sequel and Family Guy movie details on “IGN”.

North America gets its first Toon Boom commercial reseller.

Annex Pro was announced as Toon Boom’s first North Americancommercial reseller atSIGGRAPH 2018 last Sunday. The Vancouver-based company will be a one-stop animation shop, bridging the gap between the world’s leading software and the hardware studios and animators need to create high-quality content. Additionally, Annex Pro’s industry expertise will allow it to offer clients support from purchasing licences through to post-production.

In more news from SIGGRAPH 2018, Nimble Collective debuted its cloud-based animation platform, Nimble Studio, at the event. Aimed at commercial studios and enterprise animation production, it promises to offer studio-level capabilities — facilitating collaboration and reducing the need for costly infrastructure and overhead. Earlier this year, Nimbleannounced a partnership with Toon Boom Animation at Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

The 45th Student Academy Awards are set for October 11 and the nominees paint (or, illustrate?) a hopeful picture for the future of the industry. Notably, many of this year’s nominees created 2D animated shorts. Split between domestic and international schools, all the films were produced by full-time undergraduate and graduate students. Last year’s winner in the domestic animation film school category was LGBTQ viral sensationIn a Heartbeat.

The Saint Lucia Coalition of Services Industries (SLCSI), in collaboration with Export Saint Lucia and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), hosted a five-day Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) animation boot camp this week. Emerging and export-ready animators were trained inToon Boom Harmony, largely because it is used in over 130 countries and on leading international productions like The Simpsons and The Princess and the Frog. Knowledge in the industry-standard software will connect local artists to the global market.

Ireland’s Salty Dog Pictures has been enlisted to create a The Flintstones spin-off series, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs!. The Dublin-based studio will take a new generation back to Bedrock by providing overseas animation services. Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs! will focus on best friends Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble. Salty Dog Pictures most recently worked on Saturday Night Live’s The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special, produced inToon Boom Storyboard Pro and Harmony.

Canada is recognized internationally for its progressive stances on diversity and multiculturalism, and that perspective will be instilled in the next generation with 16 Hudson. The series is being produced by Vancouver studio Big Bad Boo and will follow an inclusive group of kids exploring their neighbourhood. It will disruptively depict holidays like Chinese New Year, Diwali and Persian New Year, and be the first preschool cartoon to show a child with two dads as well as characters from a variety of backgrounds (Iranian, Chinese, mixed-race). 16 Hudson is also female-directed and produced, with the majority of the crew also being women.

Musicians and real-life couple Elvis Costello and Diana Krall will be providing original music for Amazon Prime Video’s latest animated series, Pete the Cat. The pair will also voice Dad and Mom, respectively, while Jacob Tremblay stars as the titular character. Co-produced by Alcon Television Group, Pete the Cat will premiere globally on September 21, with music created by Costello and Krall available for purchase on Amazon Music.

Check out how Pete the Cat brings together toons and tunes on “Kidscreen”.

How Netflix plans to take over the entertainment world.

Netflix is spending $8 billion on creating original content this year. The streaming giant has more than 125 million paid subscribers, with 300 million profiles across 450 million devices. However, in the US, its growth is slowing. To appeal to international audiences, Netflix needs to create original content that appeals to regional and cultural tastes — and animation is essential to that strategy.

Environmental NGO Greenpeace released an animated video that makes the destructive nature of the palm oil industry easy enough for a child to understand. Narrated by British actor Emma Thompson, it follows a young orangutan running amuck in a little girl’s room. The audience learns the ape has lost his home due to the palm oil industry’s destruction of the Indonesian rainforest; the ingredient is used in nearly half of all supermarket items and kills or displaces 25 of the orange primates daily. The video shows how 2D animation can powerfully convey information and evoke emotion in both kids and adults.

Grab tissues and watch the Greenpeace animation above or read more on “One Green Planet”.

What Top Animation News were you most excited about this week? Was there something we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments below!